Corporate Spotlight Interview: Cummins, Inc.

What are technology/solution areas that you have a primary interest in?

Cummins is at the cutting edge of technology in a variety of technical disciplines including chemistry, electronics, mechanics, metrology, human interface and materials. At TechConnect 2016, we are interested in tribological interfaces & coatings, heat flow management attained by the selection of materials and fatigue strength improvement of materials. In addition we are also interested in sensors for measurement of temperature, gas mass flow, gas composition and energy recovery and energy storage technologies.

What level of commercial maturity do you typically look for in technology partnerships?

Cummins develops and partners to develop technologies across the range of commercial maturity levels from applied research to commercial introduction depending on the technology area. We have an interest in co-development and research in materials technologies from proof of concept to prototype stages. Additionally, we have an interest in partnership and co-development in sensing technology from prototype to mission-ready hardware stages.

Please describe your company’s Innovation model and how this model helps to find new innovations.

Cummins is a global company with a strong tradition of innovation, technology development and technology integration. We have a sensing network including many US National Labs, universities and world wide labs. Avenues like TechConnect help us fill-in the missing areas in our network. We scan our network for a large number of candidate technologies. We incubate and commercially introduce technologies that meet the criteria for technical feasibility, commercial viability and strategic alignment.

Why work with TechConnect and the National Innovation Summit as a technology prospector? Who are you looking to meet with?

TechConnect helps us update and expand our sensing network. We catch-up with new work being done by people within our network and we get a chance to meet with people outside our sensing network.

What did you like most about the 2016 conferences?

We met industrial partnership & technology commercialization personnel from universities and national labs. We learned about new research areas being investigated by universities, national labs and start-ups who we are already working with.